In the city where there is a Chinese shop in the alley, cheap chowmin is scattered on the streets, he dreamed of serving Ambangali chowmin in fine dining. The cost will be affordable, the experience will be high quality. Devaditya Chowdhury, the leader of the popular restaurant chain, has made that dream come true.
He started his career as a musician. But life revolved around food. He used to host a show on food. With ‘Lakshmichhara’ band, he used to try food from different countries in between shows around the world. I wanted to open a small restaurant. To feed the townspeople something a little different. But the power of the pocket was not that way then. So he did not know where to find a place to open a restaurant. There was no shortage of new ideas. How the restaurant will be, where the equipment will come from, what the menu will be, how the interior will be, all those were planned 2-3 years before the opening of the restaurant. Finally he got the courage to open a restaurant by finding a space in a vacant lot on Golf Club Road. Although at that time many people said that the restaurant could never operate in that place. But he didn’t care. And since the opening, Devaditya has not looked back.
Devaditya Chowdhury, the owner of the popular restaurant chain, had the guts to open a restaurant by finding a space in a vacant lot on Golf Club Road. own image
Within a month, crowds started gathering in front of that small restaurant from morning till night. That crowd is still visible twelve years later. Being close to Tolipara, the crowd of restaurant stars was not less. Popularity spread to such an extent that it soon became difficult to handle the demand for home delivery. According to Devaditya, “At that time I started a cloud kitchen. The idea of cloud kitchen in this city is my first. Maybe this name was not used then. Another thing we were ahead of was our delivery. Swiggy-Zomato came much later. Before that we started our own delivery system. Now we have more than 100 bikes in the city. Our customers can order directly from us anytime by phone or through the app. We will deliver the right food.”
‘Chowman’ Special Kolkata Style Chilli Chicken. own image
What is the key to such huge success? Devaditya explained, “When we order a pizza of our choice, we expect the pizza to be the same everywhere, Delhi-Mumbai-Kolkata. But there were no such chains of Chinese food. We tried that. From Barrackpore-Sodpur to Sonarpur in the south — whatever branch you order from, Chowman’s food tastes the same, at the same price and in the same quantity.” The food taste of many famous hotels is not same from all branches. Is it possible to find similar chefs? Devaditya’s answer, “Hand cooking can be a bit this way and that way.” But our spices all come from one place. The sauces are all made from one place. So the taste doesn’t change much.”
‘Chowman’ in Indiranagar, Bangalore. own image
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The boss of ‘Chowman’ did not make any compromises to take the business forward. Created its own delivery app by spending a lot of money with an app maker in Ahmedabad. Apart from Kolkata, various branches of the restaurant have also opened in Bengaluru and Delhi. All aim to open branches in remaining metro cities like Hyderabad, Chennai, Chandigarh by 2025. Devaditya has built a big team for all that. It also has its own IT team. No matter where the restaurant is located across the country, all operations will be overseen from the Kolkata office. That’s how ‘Chowman’ is progressing.
‘Chowman’ contains a collection of various Chinese terms. own image
Chinese is the most popular cuisine in the world. So he started with that food. But now the menu includes many more South-Eastern dishes at ‘Chowman’. Korea, Japan, Thailand – people’s interest in the food of all countries has increased. Some have been inspired to try these foods while on holiday in Thailand, some have watched series on Netflix. Devaditya seized that opportunity.
Those who are fans of ‘Chowman’ don’t want to eat like Chinese from other places. Devaditya is quite confident about this. But how can it be said with such emphasis? Karndhar had several tricks. He knows that Bengalis are very touchy about money, fussy about food, and won’t stop criticizing if the food is even the slightest bit bad or if the piece of chili chicken is even the slightest bit small. So where other restaurants make a profit of 10 rupees, ‘Chowman’ makes a profit of 6 rupees. However, the amount of profit is so high that it pays off. Sometimes the food is tested and tested at the headquarters of the organization. What can be done better, that effort goes on. Even if the price of equipment increases in the market, the price of food is not increased. Trying to compensate for that loss with the help of technology. But it never allowed the business to suffer. Expanded business even in excess. Every employee has been paid their due salary and bonus. While many other restaurants were closing down, ‘Chowman’ opened more branches.
Devaditya has seen many things change in twelve years. The behavior of people around him changed with success. But some things still haven’t changed. For example, Devaditya’s favorite food is still his mother’s chili chicken! The creator of ‘Chowman’ is still thinking about this post in the midst of hundreds of posts in his restaurant menu.
